Recaps

On Hogwarts’ first day back, Remus Lupin put the first years through a team endurance run before Sirius Black announced the beginning-of-term exams. The chapter ended with Harry wishing George and Fred were still at school to explain Sirius’s warning to everyone.

• Remus Lupin ordered the first years to run five kilometers in randomly assigned groups of four, carrying weighted packs and helping any fallen teammates.
• When Wayne objected to being slowed by weaker students, Lupin insisted that the group had to become strong enough to cover one another’s vulnerabilities.
• Harry teased Ron about his failed hope that the exams would be canceled, while Hermione reminded them that the White List system remained in place.
• Sirius Black welcomed the students back and announced the start of term, prompting Harry to miss George and Fred’s ability to translate the warning into plain language.

Sirius announced that the start-of-term exam had been completely changed, then tormented students as he invigilated. After the exam, Harry explained how he had inferred a dark creature’s weakness from misleading details in the paper, while Ron and Malfoy complained about the questions.

• Sirius told the Great Hall that the exam format had changed and began the test without warning.
• Sirius patrolled the hall, amplified a stopwatch’s ticking, and intensified the students’ anxiety during the final fifteen minutes.
• Sirius ended the exam, and hundreds of papers flew into the sorting boxes as the students erupted in complaints.
• Ron protested that every answer to the first question seemed correct, while Malfoy complained about a lengthy information-processing question.
• Harry explained that the solidified butter and unfrozen water revealed the creature’s sensitivity to heat, and Hermione noted that absolute temperature had appeared in lessons.

During the first Defense Against Dark Magic lesson after exam week, Douglas tested the second-year students on their assigned preview work. He sent a Gryffindor girl to his office after class to recite what she had failed to memorize.

• Douglas told the students to put away their textbooks and wands because he would quiz them on the preview work.
• Douglas called on Wayne, who denied speaking, and Douglas praised his instinct for decisive denial in danger.
• Douglas asked a Gryffindor girl to name the first steps of defense, and she struggled to recall them.
• Wayne laughed at the girl, so Douglas ordered him to explain the meaning of cost; Wayne described the resources and advantages that defensive actions could consume.
• Douglas told the girl to come to his office after class and recite the assigned preview work.

Douglas tested his students on the principles of defense, praising Finch for explaining how to identify danger, keep a safe distance, and weigh the costs of a response. He warned the class that survival mattered more than heroics, then ended the lesson by assigning some students to recite in Professor Holmes's office.

• Douglas called on Wayne, who had recited the material but failed to assess risks or keep quiet, and then asked student number eight, Finch, to answer.
• Finch explained the principles of identification, distance, and cost, using an enchanted package outside the abandoned third-floor bathroom as an example of when to investigate cautiously and report danger.
• Douglas praised Finch's practical concern for House Points and asked the class to applaud him.
• Douglas told the students that Hogwarts was safe but danger could still find them, and that the core of Defense Against Dark Magic was staying alive.
• Wayne called Douglas's advice cowardly, so Douglas rebuked him and the class laughed.
• After the lesson, several students were assigned to recite the textbook in Professor Holmes's office.

Neville attended Snape’s advanced Potions class to pursue a way to understand and treat the nerve damage caused by the Cruciatus Curse. Snape recognized that Neville’s research had basic value, then insulted Harry Potter and the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

• Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, and Pansy Parkinson mocked Neville’s place in the advanced class, while Hermione defended his Potions O.W.L. result.
• Neville explained to Hermione that he was studying Potions to investigate the brain pathways damaged by the Cruciatus Curse and help his parents.
• Snape introduced the class’s focus on stability, documentation, and repeated verification, then criticized Draco’s and Hermione’s preparatory reports.
• Snape examined Neville’s notebook, mocked his handwriting, but said its breadth and approach had basic research value.
• Snape told the class that everyone admitted to the advanced course deserved basic respect, then called Harry Potter rubbish and disparaged the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Neville impressed Snape with his Potions reasoning and requested an independent project on the lasting effects of the Cruciatus Curse, leaving with instructions to submit a proposal that evening. Meanwhile, Douglas, Sirius, and Lupin discussed Lucius Malfoy’s public attack on the Ministry and suspected it concealed a deeper political maneuver.

• Snape noticed Neville’s careful adjustments to his potion and asked him to explain his reasoning on the blackboard.
• Neville told Snape he wanted to research the long-term effects of Unforgivable Curses, especially the Cruciatus Curse, and Snape ordered him to bring a coherent proposal to his office that evening.
• Hermione waited outside the classroom, and Neville admitted that his hands were shaking after making his request.
• Douglas, Sirius, and Lupin discussed a Daily Prophet article in which Lucius Malfoy condemned the Ministry’s handling of Azkaban.
• Douglas suggested Lucius wanted readers to see the article as a routine political attack, but he gave no further explanation.

Neville presented Snape with a plan to counter the Cruciatus Curse’s lasting neural damage, and Snape grudgingly approved it. Douglas then invited Snape to Dumbledore’s dinner at the Astronomy Tower, where Dragon Blood Hot Pot awaited.

• Neville proposed using Venomous Tentacula secretions to interrupt the curse’s painful nerve signals, and Snape signed off on the experiment while ordering him to seek funding.
• Douglas entered Snape’s office and teased him about showing patience with Neville.
• Douglas told Snape that Dumbledore had invited them to dinner and revealed that he had prepared Dragon Blood Hot Pot at the Astronomy Tower.
• Snape took the insulated cup Douglas had given him and left the dungeon with him.

Voldemort, disguised as Snape, went to a dinner with Douglas and Dumbledore, who questioned him about whether Tom had contacted him. He remained unsure whether they suspected his disguise as the two focused on eating, and the chapter ended with Douglas suggesting Snape research drinkable potions.

• Douglas led Snape to the Astronomy Tower, where Dumbledore had prepared a hot pot dinner.
• Dumbledore asked whether Tom had contacted Snape, and Voldemort, disguised as Snape, used fabricated memories to deny it.
• Douglas and Dumbledore began competing over the cooked dragon meat while Snape remarked that being abandoned could mean a new life.
• Voldemort wondered whether the two professors suspected him as they chatted and fought over food.
• Douglas gave Snape lamb and discussed growing up in an orphanage and turning potions into drinks, prompting Snape to ask whether he looked short of money.

Douglas confronted Dumbledore over Harry’s abusive childhood at the Dursleys’ home, while Voldemort, disguised as Snape, watched and tried to interpret their conversation. The chapter ended with Douglas demanding that Dumbledore answer for calling Harry’s home a safe haven.

• Douglas asked Dumbledore who would inherit his estate, prompting Dumbledore to joke that he would leave Douglas dragon meat and a film.
• Voldemort offered Douglas an annotated Advanced Potions textbook as an inheritance, then mocked him over being refused entry to the class.
• Douglas asked Dumbledore whether Harry’s Potions lessons had become easier without Harry, then challenged his decision to leave Harry with Petunia.
• Douglas described Harry sleeping in a spider-filled cupboard, wearing Dudley’s castoffs, suffering bullying, and being starved or struck by his aunt.
• Douglas asked Dumbledore whether that was what he called the protection of blood and a life without suffering.

Dumbledore explained that his understanding of Harry’s suffering had been shaped by memories of Victorian-era child labor and described how Tom Riddle’s childhood in a deprived orphanage and wartime London may have fueled his obsession with immortality. The conversation left Voldemort unsettled as he considered whether Dumbledore’s account of his past could be true.

• Voldemort listened as Douglas recounted Harry’s childhood and privately took satisfaction in Harry’s hardships.
• Dumbledore told Douglas that his generation’s experience of poverty and child labor had distorted his sense of what counted as suffering.
• Dumbledore argued that Harry’s mistreatment seemed tolerable to him because Harry had food, clothes, a home, and a school, unlike children who had faced death in Victorian workplaces.
• Douglas identified the child Dumbledore had in mind as Tom Riddle, and Dumbledore recalled his years in Wool's Orphanage during economic hardship.
• Dumbledore described Tom’s summers during the Blitz, when he was forced into air-raid shelters and forbidden to use magic outside school.
• Dumbledore suggested that Tom’s fear of dying in wartime had driven his pursuit of immortality and creation of Horcruxes, leaving Voldemort to wonder whether his childhood had truly been so miserable.

Douglas rejected Dumbledore’s account of Voldemort’s childhood as an excuse for his crimes, arguing that Tom Riddle chose cruelty and ruled through fear. Dumbledore accepted that Tom was responsible, then asked what kind of wizarding system had failed to help an eleven-year-old child before he fell into darkness.

• Voldemort mocked Dumbledore for portraying his fear of Muggle bombs as the cause of his rise, while Douglas accused the Headmaster of whitewashing a serial killer.
• Douglas argued that other children had endured the war without becoming Voldemort and condemned Tom Riddle as a selfish coward who chose to oppress the vulnerable.
• Voldemort defended the Dark Lord’s belief that power came from fear, but Douglas called his rule a failed system that left him without devoted followers.
• Dumbledore agreed that Tom had to answer for his crimes and said his account was meant as a reflection on the wizarding world and Hogwarts.
• Dumbledore asked Douglas what system had watched an eleven-year-old child enter darkness without offering genuine help.

Dumbledore admitted that the Wizarding World’s neglect had helped shape Tom Riddle, while Douglas insisted that this did not excuse Voldemort’s choices. Douglas vowed to crush Voldemort’s empire and pure-blood ideology with ruthless rules and systems.

• Dumbledore recalled how he had watched Tom Riddle at Hogwarts but failed to protect or understand him, and blamed the Wizarding World’s indifference for helping drive him toward violence.
• Voldemort rejected Dumbledore’s remorse and argued that kindness could not have stopped Tom from pursuing power.
• Snape compared Voldemort to a predator, but Douglas countered that humans chose their actions and that Tom had chosen to commit murder.
• Douglas acknowledged Hogwarts’ failures while insisting that Voldemort remained responsible for drawing his wand and using the Killing Curse.
• Douglas described Voldemort as a failed case of psychological rehabilitation and vowed that the Wizarding World would destroy his empire and pure-blood ideology through strict systems and force.

After Voldemort left the Astronomy Tower, Douglas told Dumbledore he could immobilize him at any time and explained that he was letting him remain at Hogwarts because of a possible connection between Voldemort and Harry. The next morning, disguised as Snape, Voldemort observed the students’ runes and taught Potions, studying Hogwarts while maintaining his cover.

• Voldemort left the gathering, and Douglas asked Dumbledore whether he had truly been repenting.
• Dumbledore asked whether Douglas could keep the students safe while Tom was at Hogwarts, and Douglas said he could immobilize him at any time without warning.
• Douglas said he suspected an undiscovered Horcrux connected Voldemort and Harry, and wanted Voldemort to discover and retrieve it himself.
• Disguised as Snape, Voldemort watched the students’ morning run to examine their rune bracelets, and Neville Longbottom calmly nodded to him as he passed.
• Voldemort taught Snape’s scheduled Potions lessons and let a fifth-year potion reaction continue longer than planned before explaining that waiting could be wiser than intervening.

Douglas introduced a sixth-year Defense Against Dark Arts exercise that simulated an assault on Azkaban, with students facing genuine Dementor mist and aquatic creatures. He explained that students would be randomly assigned teams and left them wondering whether the underwater teaching assistants might actually eat them.

• Douglas showed the students a lake simulation of Azkaban, surrounded by genuine Dementor mist and creatures guarded by merpeople.
• Douglas explained that teams of three would have two students defend the building with Patronuses while one swam to its entrance through the mist and aquatic creatures.
• Hermione asked about calibrating the Patronus Charm, and Douglas directed students to the exercises in the fifth-year Pink Booklet.
• Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Draco initially gathered with familiar classmates, but Douglas revealed they would draw numbered wooden plaques to form teams.
• Douglas warned that refusing to cooperate could make the teaching assistants in the water treat students as extra dinner, then told Ron he had no reason to expect Douglas to listen to reason.

Hermione, Ron, and Draco were assigned to an attack-and-defense exercise across the lake, where Ron and Draco had to defend against Hermione. Hermione raced toward the central island on a transfigured surfboard while Ron and Draco’s Patronuses began fighting, leaving the defense in chaos.

• Hermione and Ron discovered they had drawn different roles, while Draco was assigned to defend alongside Ron and Hermione was chosen as the attacker.
• Ron and Draco reached the island and summoned their corporeal Patronuses, a fox terrier and a peacock, to repel the lake’s black mist.
• Hermione transformed a silk scarf into a surfboard and rode a magically raised wave toward the island.
• Ron’s spell stirred a tentacle from the lake, which Draco cut off as he accused Ron of deliberately targeting him.
• Draco agitated the underwater creatures to hinder Hermione, while Ron secretly attacked them too as Hermione navigated around the danger.
• Ron and Draco’s Patronuses started chasing and attacking each other, and Ron claimed their conflict was simply natural instinct.

Draco used his Dragon Ball to summon a giant snake after Ron and Hermione pressured him during the lake exercise. Hermione took a longer route toward the island while Ron disrupted Draco, buying time for the Dragon Pearl's magic to run out.

• Draco fought off underwater creatures, Hermione's spells, Ron's Patronus, and encroaching black mist during the lake exercise.
• Ron drenched Draco with a Blasting Curse that he claimed to have misdirected by accident.
• Draco activated his One-Star Dragon Pearl and summoned a giant snake whose waves drove Ron outside his Patronus's protection.
• Ron protested Draco's use of a magical item, but Douglas gave no indication that he would intervene.
• Hermione took a wider route toward the island after the underwater creatures abandoned her to attack the giant snake.
• Douglas called the next group to prepare while Harry recognized Ron and Hermione's delaying strategy and expressed confidence that Hermione would reach the island.

After Douglas assigned a five-foot essay on the practical lesson, Ron celebrated his victory over Draco while the Slytherins stewed in silence. Flitwick mistook Snape’s thermos for a fashionable staff product, and Hogwarts enjoyed a brief calm before monthly exams approached.

• Douglas assigned the sixth-year Defense Against Dark Magic students a five-foot tactical analysis essay based on their observed matches.
• Ron bragged to Harry, Hermione, and Neville about tricking Draco with a tentacled creature, a Blasting Curse, and his Patronus, while Draco sat in furious silence.
• Harry stopped Ron from loudly joking about getting a ten-foot essay, and Hermione suggested Ron deserved one for his performance.
• Flitwick noticed Snape and Douglas carrying thermoses, and Sprout speculated that they came from the Marauders Power Company.
• Hogwarts settled into a quiet stretch of classes and morning runs before the students remembered that monthly exams were nearing.

Harry trained Ron for Keeper tryouts while testing a movement-recording trench coat and wearing an amulet from Douglas. Later, Douglas followed a coded message to the Forbidden Forest, where he reunited with his former study-group friend Maeve Doyle.

• Harry gave Ron special Keeper training and prepared to collect movement data for Douglas and Sirius.
• Douglas found a coded note on the Hogwarts noticeboard inviting him to meet at the usual place in the Forbidden Forest.
• Douglas decoded the message and decided to meet its unknown sender that night.
• Douglas climbed an ash tree in the Forbidden Forest and found Maeve Doyle waiting there.
• Maeve told Douglas that Head of House Flitwick had helped her visit Hogwarts, then teased him about her conversations with Lady Helena.

Maeve told Douglas how she had found Peter Pettigrew hiding in a Dark Wizard’s pocket in Australia and brought him to Hogwarts. Douglas learned that Pettigrew had helped resurrect Voldemort and confirmed Maeve’s suspicion that he had emptied Azkaban.

• Maeve explained that Australia wanted to cooperate with the United Kingdom and that Percy now led its Department of International Magical Cooperation.
• Maeve pulled Peter Pettigrew, disguised as a rat, from her enchanted coat pocket and gave him to Douglas as a congratulatory gift.
• Maeve said she had found Pettigrew in a Dark Wizard hideout in northern Queensland and had kept him from the authorities because she expected Douglas would want him.
• Douglas revealed that Pettigrew had sacrificed his arm to help resurrect Voldemort, and Maeve asked whether Voldemort had returned.
• Douglas said Voldemort was occupied and everything was under control, then confirmed Maeve’s suspicion that he had arranged the first emptying of Azkaban.

Douglas met Maeve, shared an unspoken secret about the old Four Houses battle, and invited her to dinner before she left. Meanwhile, Voldemort interrogated Wormtail at Malfoy Manor, read his memories, and heard the story of his flight from Europe to Australia and back.

• Douglas and Maeve hid from Hagrid, then talked about Maeve’s orchard in Australia and shared a knowing smile about the old Four Houses battle.
• Maeve told Douglas she would leave by Portkey the day after tomorrow, and Douglas invited her to a meal before she went.
• Douglas released Wormtail in a sealed clearing in the Forbidden Forest, where Wormtail pleaded for his life and feared being handed to Black and Lupin.
• At Malfoy Manor, Voldemort confronted Wormtail while Snape and Lucius watched, and demanded his memories.
• Voldemort used Legilimency to see Wormtail’s flight from Europe through Southeast Asia and northern Australia before his return to Europe.

Douglas learned that Aragog was dying and that his decline had unsettled the Forbidden Forest. After contacting Bill and Newt in Egypt, Douglas summoned them back to Hogwarts because he believed he had found a way to obtain soul toxin.

• Voldemort handed Wormtail over to Snape as an assistant before leaving that night.
• Lupin told Douglas that Aragog was dying and that Acromantulas, Centaurs, and Thestrals were behaving strangely in the Forbidden Forest.
• Douglas reviewed Newt’s research on Nagini’s Blood Demon Curse, then called Bill and Newt in Egypt.
• Douglas told Bill and Newt to return to the United Kingdom because he might have found a way to obtain soul toxin.

Douglas and Newt agreed to seek Hagrid’s consent before asking Aragog to help create a soul toxin, since Aragog’s willing participation was essential. They arrived at Hagrid’s Hut and found Hagrid in tears, leaving the reason for his grief unknown.

• Newt arrived at Douglas’s study, where his Niffler Wangcai greeted him by trying to steal a brass button.
• Douglas explained that he wanted to use Aragog’s venom, spirituality, and soul power to create a soul toxin, and Newt warned that Aragog had to agree willingly.
• Douglas and Newt agreed to tell Hagrid the benefits and risks first and, if he agreed, ask Aragog together; Newt also said Hagrid might help with the process.
• Douglas and Newt traveled through the Forbidden Forest to Hagrid’s Hut, where Hagrid opened the door with tear-swollen eyes and began to cry.

Hagrid grieved over Aragog’s decline and the threat posed by the Acromantulas, while Douglas and Newt explained that they were trying to save Nagini from a Blood Curse. Hagrid sympathized with her suffering but said he could not spare much time from caring for Aragog and suggested they ask Dumbledore for help.

• Hagrid told Newt and Douglas that Aragog was dying and recalled how their friendship had begun when Aragog was a young spider.
• Douglas warned Hagrid that Aragog’s death could leave the Acromantulas uncontrolled, and Hagrid admitted Aragog could no longer restrain his grandchildren.
• Newt and Douglas told Hagrid that Nagini was once a human woman trapped in a snake’s body by a Blood Curse.
• Hagrid condemned Nagini’s fate and asked how he could help, but explained that Aragog needed him and directed them to Dumbledore.

Douglas tried to persuade Hagrid to ask Aragog for venom before the Acromantula’s death, while promising the Marauders Company would protect its colony after Aragog died. Hagrid was shocked by the offer, and the chapter left him considering the company’s plan for the Acromantulas.

• Douglas praised Hagrid’s knowledge of magical creatures until Hagrid agreed to help without asking what he wanted.
• Douglas asked Hagrid to persuade Aragog to provide venom for research, but Hagrid refused, saying it would leave Aragog defenseless.
• Douglas argued that Aragog was already dying and had little need to defend itself.
• Douglas promised that the Marauders Company would take control of Acromantula Valley and provide the colony with food, shelter, and caretakers.
• Hagrid reacted with shock as Douglas explained that the company would protect the Acromantulas from harming people and from being slaughtered by the Ministry of Magic.

Douglas persuaded Hagrid to take him to Aragog so he could ask the aging Acromantula to willingly create Soul Toxin, presenting the sacrifice as a way to protect his colony and preserve his memory. Hagrid agreed, while Newt recognized that Douglas had manipulated him by concealing that only Aragog was likely capable of producing the toxin.

• Douglas gave Hagrid a research proposal explaining that Soul Toxin required a fantastic beast to willingly infuse its venom with its soul and spiritual essence.
• Hagrid objected that Aragog would never surrender his soul and threatened to fight Douglas if he harmed the Acromantulas.
• Douglas said he could capture Aragog’s descendants instead, then argued that Aragog could protect his colony and be remembered by sacrificing himself.
• Hagrid recalled his long friendship with Aragog, broke down in tears, and finally agreed to take Douglas to him.
• Newt muttered that Douglas’s persuasive methods resembled Grindelwald’s and realized that Aragog’s unique age and power made him the only plausible source of Soul Toxin.